The Landscape of Her Body
the sun’s light lies sharp
a slash across the clearing
meanwhile there grows
in the shadow
only the landscape
of her body— splintered
into what is past and
what is yet to come
she is simply an empty space
a scattering of dry brown reeds
cluttered and clattering
rough and rasping: her song
comes in snatches
dim then keen— listen
she is a dream once lost
among sorrows and songs
listen in the boundary
of shadow and light
look in the broken
disused reeds
there—there is the landscape
of her body splintered
Pamela Olson, 4/22/09
For Read Write Poem’s prompt
to use 5 random lines from
different poets
The lines came from the following:
Pablo Neruda’s “Phantom”
Natasha Threthewey’s “What is Evidence
William Stafford’s “One Evening”
Elizabeth Bishop’s “View of the Capitol
from the Library of Congress”
Ranier Maria Rilke’s “I Love the Dark Hours
of My Being”
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